03 Jul 2018

Ministry of Health and Wellness will invest over P7 million on maintenance of Letsholathebe II Memorial hospital.

The NACA coordinator, Mr Richard Matlhare said this in response to concerns raised by North West District Councillors in Maun.

He said the ministry was aware of the facility’s dilapidated infrastructure.

Councillors had complained about the bad state of the art facility which they said posed danger to patients.

They also raised a concern about non-functional X-ray machines, constant break downs of the CD4 count machine, shortage of medication and shortage of medical experts among others.

However, Mr Matlhare admitted that the facility was not appealing hence the ministry acted on its status.

He said the maintenance would be done in phases at a cost of P7 343 555.

He mentioned that this financial year, maintenance started with the following components; air conditioning system (4 chillers, 33 air handling units), reported to be complete.

Other components are: repair of Building Management System (BMS); repairs to leakages on central hot water heating system; replacement of mortuary plant and repairs to kitchen cold rooms and freezer rooms.

The hospital has also received various medical equipment in order to improve availability of health service and outcomes to the tune of P5 million.

The equipment includes; physiotherapy, audiology, neo-natal equipment for ICU, patient monitors for ICU and anaesthetic machine for theatre.

Regarding shortage of medication, Mr Matlhare explained that the issue was experienced nationally as their target was 95 per cent but it was currently at 68 per cent.

He also indicated that Ngamiland was slightly above the national average.

Furthermore, the House learnt that the ministry came up with some intervention to rectify the situation.

Councillors learnt that the procurement and distribution of medication in the country was centralised through Central Medical Stores (CSM) and that the districts were given local budget to supplement their unique needs through micro-procurement

However, Mr Matlhare indicated that Ngami District Health Management Team (DHMT)’s micro-procurement vote was increased by 25 per cent for the financial year 2018/19 to enable buying of some needed drugs without going through CMS.

Furthermore, he highlighted that processes in CMS were currently being addressed at national level.

They include split tender awards to spread risks, strengthening implementation of Frame Work Contracts, enforcement of clause on full delivery per order placed and management and tracking system.

On the issue of the machines, Mr Matlhare revealed that the equipment was very sensitive as they were easily affected when the facility experience power cut.

He said the DHMT has two X-ray machines allocated to Letsholathebe Hospital.

One of the machines was reported to be down while the other is functional.

Ministry acknowledged that the district has from time to time experienced the down time of these machines which were mechanical and unavoidable.

“We have put in place a UPS (a system that protects the machines while the power goes off),” he added.

As a contingency plan, he mentioned that the ministry would replace old equipment this financial year.

The tender for procuring X-ray machines is at evaluation stage and expected to be delivered by October 2018, while the construction of the X-ray unit as part of the refurbishment of the old Maun General Clinic would offer a backup service to the district.

The House also learnt that the hospital has two CD4 machines, installed in 2005 and 2015. The older machine is currently down, while the other one is functional.

He said current functional machine was not in use for two months due to lack of reagents, revealing however that the reagents would be available starting July 3, to operationalise one machine.

The second old CD4 machine would be replaced with a loaner from the supplier within the month of July 2018.

“You need to note that with the change in treatment protocol for HIV care, patients are not returned on the basis that machines are down nor are they taken out of treatment,” he added. ENDS